A rchive Date
[ 26-05-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/05/23/94239-ap.html
Bush considers meeting with Israeli, Palestinian leaders to talk about peace
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Fri, May 23, 2003
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday he will consider meeting with the Palestinian and Israeli prime ministers if it will help them move toward creating a Palestinian state.
"I understand it's going to be difficult to achieve peace. But I believe it can happen," Bush told reporters after meeting at his ranch with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Bush said his administration's pledge to fully and seriously address Israel's security concerns under a new peace plan gave a crucial nudge toward Israel's formal acceptance of a formula for accord with the Palestinians.
"Prime Minister Sharon accepted the road map, and that's progress," Bush said.
The president said he is "exploring the opportunities" for meeting with Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in the near future.
"If a meeting advances progress toward two states living side by side in peace, I will strongly consider such a meeting," Bush said. "I'm committed to working toward peace in the Middle East."
Before Bush spoke, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, released a statement stressing that there is room to hear contrasting views on the so-called "road map" peace plan. But at a news conference in Paris, Powell said: "With respect to the road map, we're not planning on making any changes to the road map."
"We have told the Israeli government that we would take their comments and address them seriously and fully as we went forward in the implementation of the road map," Powell, who was meeting in Paris with French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, told reporters.
"This does not require us to change the road map. It is a good document that leads to the president's vision of two states living in peace side by side," Powell said.
Koizumi lauded Bush's effort to spur renewed peace efforts in the Middle East, and said "the world should co-operate together" to make the region more peaceful and stable. He said he will visit Egypt and Saudi Arabia in coming days to engage Arab countries on Iraqi reconstruction.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Friday he is "prepared to accept" U.S.-backed peace plan and will present it to the cabinet for approval.
A senior administration officials told reporters at the White House that "we are now in this wonderful position of getting on with it."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said Israel was concerned about security and about a Palestinian reform process moving forward. The Palestinians have concerns as well, he said, citing whether Israel is willing to have a viable Palestinian state created.
These and other issues will be addressed as the two sides implement the road map. But the formula itself, including establishment of a Palestinian state with provisional borders, will not be changed, the official said.
In Paris, meanwhile, de Villepin said he would go to the Middle East and meet with Yasser Arafat on Monday. "Everything must be tried in order to move forward," he said.
The Bush administration has tried to marginalize Arafat as an ineffective leader entwined in terror attacks on Israel. Asked about the French move, the senior official said, "We think the focus ought to be on the prime minister and the cabinet."
The official also hinted that Bush would meet with Sharon and the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas. "At some point he might do that," he said.
Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr told The Associated Press: "We are ready to start the implementation process immediately. We have got American confirmation that there will not be any changes in the road map."
The latest administration statement came after the White House received word of Sharon's tentative and conditional embrace of the peace plan.
The chain of events represented progress for Bush as he considers a new stepped-up personal investment in Mideast peacemaking. It was also a sign that the road map could survive despite a string of bloody suicide attacks this month in Israel.
Powell and Rice said in their statement that Bush asked the Israeli government to respond to the road map "with contributions to this document to advance true peace." In that response, the pair said, the Israelis explained their "significant concerns."
Before the Bush White House announced the understanding with Sharon, a pipe bomb went off Friday near an armoured bus carrying Israelis in the Gaza Strip in an attack claimed by the Islamic militant group Hamas.
A wave of such attacks caused Sharon to postpone his trip to the White House this week.
One of Sharon's main worries is that the road map, which requires the dismantling of recently established Israeli outposts, might be construed as requiring the dismantling of all Jewish settlements on the West Bank. Sharon told the Israeli people last week that abandoning settlements was not on the horizon.
Palestinian officials said Friday they would not accept any changes to the peace proposal and that they'd been assured by the Bush administration there would be none.
"We are ready to implement the road map as one package ... and without any changes," said Amr.
The road map is an attempt to end 32 months of fighting, freeze construction of Jewish homes on the West Bank and establish a Palestinian state by 2005 on land Israel has held for 36 years.
On the Palestinian side, the administration has been seeking an end to attacks on Israel. Bush has appealed to Abbas to clamp down on terror attacks while also reassuring him the administration still intends to help create a Palestinian state in 2005.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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